100 Firms Bid For NNPC’s Offshore Deal

International oil trading companies, Glencore, Vitol S.A, BP Oil International, and Total Oil Trading S.A, have joined 96 other companies in bidding for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Offshore Processing Agreements (OPA).
The successful companies in the process are expected to lift about 210,000 barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil within a 12-month period, starting from January 2016.
Speaking at the bid, yesterday, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, stated that NNPC is committed to ensuring that the process is transparent and beneficial to the country.
He noted that the OPAs are very important in light of the fact that the country’s refineries are not working at optimal capacity.
He expressed optimism that the current bid process would present an opportunity for the best companies to emerge, adding that the NNPC is concerned with companies with known track record, solid investments in Nigeria,  global recognition and access to refineries.
He further stated that the NNPC is hoping that this would be the last bid process for OPA, especially as it is expected that the country’s refineries would resume production in the next couple of months.